State by State Data

For-Profit Colleges Account for Nearly Half of all Defaults

September 24, 2014

The Institute for College Access & Success

More than 650,000 federal student loan borrowers who entered repayment in 2011 defaulted on their loans by 2013, new federal data show. For-profit colleges account for nearly half of these defaults (288,000 or 44%) despite enrolling just 12 percent of students nationally. For-profit colleges also continue to have a much higher average default rate than other types of schools: 19.1 percent, compared to 12.9 percent at public colleges and 7.2 percent at nonprofit colleges. Across all colleges, 13.7 percent of borrowers defaulted within three years of entering repayment, a slight decrease from the rates reported for the previous year, but still higher than just two years ago.